Course Descriptions

History Courses: Spring 2014

Department of History Spring 2014

HIST 10100-01, 02 Foundations of Western Civilization 1 G H HU LA

3 CREDITS

INSTRUCTOR: Matthew Klemm, Muller 405, Ext. 4-1306

ENROLLMENT: 32

PREREQUISITES: None

STUDENTS: This is a beginning level survey course. As such it is designed for first year students and sophomores. Students may not receive credit for both HIST 10100 and HIST 18100, World Civilization I. Not open to seniors except by permission of instructor.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will provide an overview of "western" (i.e., primarily European) history from Ancient Greece to the Reformation. Topics covered will include Greek democracy, the Roman Empire, the medieval history of the Roman Catholic Church, the Protestant Reformation, and the Age of Religious Wars.

COURSE FORMAT/STYLE: Primarily lecture and some discussion.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS & GRADING: Two examinations, several short essays, one longer essay, class attendance and discussion; grading based on class participation, examinations, and essays.

HIST 11200-01, 02 United States History Since 1865 1 H HU LA

3 CREDITS

INSTRUCTOR: Heather Furnas

ENROLLMENT: 32

PREREQUISITE: None

STUDENTS: Usually first year students and sophomores from all majors. Not open to seniors except by permission of instructor.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Survey of the important cultural, social, economic, and political developments in the U.S. from 1865 to the present. As a survey, this course will give you a sound knowledge of the most important moments of our recent past. Special emphasis will be placed upon: the emergence of the nation as an economic superpower, the growing engagement of the U.S. in world affairs, and the rich social history (race, class, and gender) of the nation in this period.

COURSE FORMAT/STYLE: Lecture and discussion.

HIST 16800-01 1968: A U.S. Revolution LA

3 CREDITS

INSTRUCTIOR: Michael Trotti, Muller 412, Ext. 4-1591

ENROLLMENT: 32

PREREQUISITE: None.

COURSE DEPCRIPTION: Focuses on the most tumultuous year in modern American history, exploring a range of themes in the history of the wider era -- Civil Rights, Cold War and Vietnam War, generational change/student movements, and a shift in politics to the right -- in a way that brings the moment to life and frames it in human terms. Examines student life, popular culture, and personal stories from 1968 to illuminate how much the nation changed in this era.

HIST 18100-01, 02 World Civilization I 1 G H HU LA

3 CREDITS

INSTRUCTOR: Eric Shuler, Rothschild Place 125, Ext. 4-3158

ENROLLMENT: 32

PREREQUISITES: None

STUDENTS: Primarily freshmen and sophomores: seniors require permission of instructor. Students may not receive credit for both HIST 18100 and 10100, Foundations of Western Civilization. Not open to seniors except by permission of instructor.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course is the first in a two-semester World Civilizations sequence, and in it we will cover the period from the beginnings of human society until 1500 CE. The course will proceed chronologically, but has the objective of exploring certain crucial themes in the development of human history. Issues of migration, urbanization, tradition, family and social structure, identity (caste, class, race, sex ethnicity), authority and resistance, globalization and cultural encounter will help to guide out thinking as we move through the early millennia of history. The course will introduce the world’s major religions – Hinduism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam – and discuss their growth and impact. Finally, the course will look critically at “historiography,” or the writing of history, as we try to understand how writers in the past have tried to understand their world historically.

COURSE FORMAT/STYLE: Lectures, discussion of readings. Each class one student will be responsible for making a brief, thematic presentation of the day’s readings.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS & GRADING: Readings, response papers, class attendance and participation, midterm and final; grading-based on performance on each of the above requirements.

HIST 18200-01, 02 World Civilization II 1 G H HU LA

3 CREDITS

INSTRUCTOR: Lu Liu, Muller 416, Ext. 4-3035

ENROLLMENT: 32

PREREQUISITES: None

STUDENTS: Primarily freshmen and sophomores. Students may not receive credit for both HIST 18200 and HIST 10200, Modern Western Civilization. Not open to seniors except by permission of instructor.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will provide students with an understanding of world history from 1492 through the present. Global interactions, whether peaceful or violent, have profoundly

shaped the course of world history. The major focus of this course, then, is the examination of how different national, religious, ethnic and racial groups have shaped and influenced one another. The

course will begin with an examination of the balance of economic and military power in the world before 1492. After examining European exploration and conquest and the variety of responses by Asians,

Africans and Native Americans we will consider the growth of the nation-state, the development of trans-Atlantic slavery, and the subsequent rise of revolutionary ideologies, industrialization, and imperialism in the nineteenth century. We will conclude with an examination of the impacts of the First and Second World Wars on global history up to the First Gulf War.

STUDENTS: First- and second-year students; juniors with permission; no seniors

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will explore the ways (primarily) American and (some) British and Indian women in the past have analyzed the social construction of gender‑‑particularly as it related to family, politics, work roles, and war‑‑through both their utopian fiction and the actual utopian experiments they designed and ran. Throughout history, writers and designers of utopias have critiqued various aspects of the world around them. Women writers and designers of utopias bring a particular focus to such critiques. They imagine a better world in women's terms and in women's language. They enlist sympathy in the cause of social change by making glaringly evident the meaning of social structures that are so much part and parcel of women's daily routines that they are not normally amenable to critical scrutiny. Perhaps of equal importance, they stress the interaction of individual women and their societies and focus on defining the kinds of broad social structures required to bring about their desired changes. Historical context will be crucial to understanding and analyzing these utopias, and we will explore the ways in which women's utopian visions changed over time AND WHY.

COURSE FORMAT/STYLE: Class discussion—in large and small groups (the structure of the groups will vary throughout the semester)

PREREQUISITES: One course in the humanities or social sciences; sophomore standing.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: To examine the impact of immigration, and therefore racial and ethnic diversity, upon American life. Particular emphasis will be placed on the interaction between ethnic groups and the dominant Anglo-Saxon culture. We will look at the history of modern American through the eyes of a variety groups, yielding a very different perspective than our standard view of history. Of particular importance to the students is the assignment of a family history paper in which they examine their own ethnic roots and culture and trace the history of their own family within the larger context of both American and Ethnic history.

HIST 22800-01 Islam in the Modern World HU LA

3 CREDITS

INSTRUCTOR: Jason Freitag, Muller 423, Ext. 4-5798

ENROLLMENT: 27

PREREQUISITES: One course in the humanities or social sciences; sophomore standing or above.

STUDENTS: Open to all students.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This class will examine the histories of Islamic societies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and their responses to the challenges of modernity. The course will cover a range of historical moments, including the decline of the Ottoman Empire, European colonialism in Muslim lands, the rise of nationalism and nation-states in the Middle East and Islamic Asia, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the partition of India, the Islamic revolution in Iran, and the Gulf wars in Iraq. We will also cover a range of issues present in Islamic societies including the tension between militancy and quietism, religious extremism, women's economic empowerment and the changing roles of men and women as aspects of traditional Islamic society are transformed over time. Finally, the class will consider the relationship between terrorism and Islamic ideologies, and attempt to contextualize the political dimensions of Islam and its role in shaping Muslim identities worldwide.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS & GRADING: Readings, response papers, class attendance and participation, critical essay (which will form the basis of an end-of-semester presentation). Grading is based on performance on each of the above requirements.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will examine science and medicine in western civilization from their roots in the ancient Near East and Greece, where the general framework of scientific and technical knowledge and practice was first articulated, until the breakdown of this system in the scientific revolution in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Among other questions, we will consider definitions of "science," the ways humans understood themselves in relation to the natural world, and the relationship between scientific and religious truth in the various cultures covered in the course.

PREREQUISITES: One course in the humanities or social sciences and sophomore standing.

STUDENTS: Sophomore standing and up, priority given to history and environmental studies majors and minors.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course traces the evolution of American ideas about nature and the environment from the colonial period to the present. Although rooted in intellectual history, this course will also explore cultural and social history as they relate to environmental thought. Students will examine the changing definition of concepts such as wilderness, conservation, and nature itself. Over the course of the semester students should develop a solid understanding of the ways politics, economics, religion, gender, and race have shaped environmental thought in this country. Students can also expect to practice historical interpretation through short writing assignments and a local environmental history project undertaken in cooperation with The History Center of Tompkins County.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS & GRADING: Two books and other short readings, regular attendance, several short papers and film critiques, local environmental history project, final paper. A-F, standard breakdown, based on performance of each of the above requirements.

PREREQUISITES: One course in the humanities or social sciences; sophomore standing or above.

OBJECTIVES: This will be a study of economic, social, and political events in Europe in the 20th century. A central theme of this course will be why a few countries maintained viable democracies while most others succumbed to dictatorships. Special attention will be given to the treatment of minority populations in European democracies and dictatorships. This counts toward the European requirement for history department majors.

HIST 29204-01 ST: Studies in Global History: From Sugar to Oil in the Americas: A History of Commodities 1 G H HU LA

3 CREDITS

INSTRUCTOR: Jonathan Ablard, Muller 403, Ext. 4-3558

ENROLLMENT: 27

PREREQUISITES: One course in the humanities and/or social sciences; sophomore standing.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: From Sugar to Oil examines the ways in which commodities have shaped the Western Hemisphere from the arrival of Columbus to the BP oil spill. Students will gain an understanding of the way in which commodities fit into the larger fabric of world history since the 15th century. Our focus will not just be on what was produced and traded throughout history, but also on how historians, economists, and other social scientists have interpreted the social, political, environmental, and economic significance of particular commodities. Thus, while the course might appear to be about inanimate objects, it is in fact a course that focuses our attention on how these objects have shaped the human experience.

HIST 29304-01 ST: Women and the American Experience, 1870-1980 HU LA

3 CREDITS

INSTRUCTOR: Vivian Bruce Conger, Muller 408, Ext. 4-3572

ENROLLMENT: 27

PREREQUISITES: none

STUDENTS: Sophomores, juniors, or seniors

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course is specifically designed to teach you to think critically, analytically, and contextually about women’s lives between Reconstruction and the Reagan era. A major focus will be to understand how class, ethnicity, and race influenced American women’s work, family life, and organized activities across time. The following topics and themes will be discussed as we build our chronological framework: immigration, industrialization, female sexuality, women and the Depression, women and WWII, women and reform, the “feminine mystique,” civil rights and the women’s movement. The course will emphasize diversity and change among various social classes, races, and ethnic groups that comprised our history. Because I believe strongly in letting women tell their own stories, you will have many opportunities to “hear women’s voices” through oral histories, autobiographies, novels, and documentaries.

COURSE FORMAT/STYLE: Class discussion—in large and small groups (the structure of the groups will vary throughout the semester)

COURSE REQUIREMENTS & GRADING: Attendance, participation, a mid-term analysis, a 15-page group research project and presentation (this paper will be thoroughly rewritten after the presentation), and a final short reflection paper.

HIST 30800-01 The United States in the Age of Cold War HU LA

3 CREDITS

INSTRUCTOR: Michael Smith, Muller 320, Ext. 4-1290

ENROLLMENT: 20

STUDENTS: Sophomore standing and above.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: The United States emerged from World War II as the most powerful nation on earth—this new status brought with it both opportunities and challenges. This course examines these opportunities and challenges in some detail. Among the topics we will explore are the origins, development, and end of the Cold War; the Civil Rights Movement and rights consciousness generally; the high tide of Liberalism and the rise of the political right; and deindustrialization and the rise of the service economy. Students will also be honing their skills as historians, writing several papers that develop their skills in finding and analyzing primary sources, in understanding historiography, and in synthesizing interpretations of the past.

PREREQUISITE: Three courses in the humanities and/or social sciences; sophomore standing.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Study of China’s 19th and 20th century passage from empire to a People’s Republic. Course will include the end of the Qing dynasty’s imperial rule, the first republic, civil war among warlords, hostilities between new political parties, war against Japanese invasion, civil war between the Nationalist Party and the Communist Party, and the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). A large portion of the course will be about the PRC from inception through the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976. The course aims to provide background for understanding China’s position in the 21st century.

PREREQUISTIES: Three courses in the humanities and/or social sciences; sophomore standing.
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This class provides an overview of the religious, political, and social history of Europe from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries. We will discuss the theology of Martin Luther and John Calvin, Tudor and Stuart England, the Catholic Reformation, witch trials, and religious warfare in France, the Holy Roman Empire, and England. Counts toward the European requirement for history department majors.

PREREQUISITES: Three courses in the humanities and/or social sciences.

STUDENTS: Sophomore standing.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course seeks to explore the domestic and international history of post-1945 Latin America. To that end, we will grapple with a set of questions that concern state violence and popular movements that challenged it. When and why do state actors (the military, bureaucrats, the police, etc.) employ violence against their own citizens? When they use violence, who do they target and why? How do these state actors justify or explain their actions? Is violence a “rational” choice to meet the goals of the state actors? We also have to consider the question of the insurrectionary and revolutionary movements (both armed and/or political) that are often the cause (or excuse) for state repression. The most basic question is what constitutes a revolution and why do they happen? Why are some revolutions successful in seizing power while others are not? Finally, although civil conflict is the norm in the post-1945 period, few of these conflicts were purely internal or domestic in nature, but rather occurred under the shadow of the global conflict between capitalism and communism, which is often referred to as the Cold War.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course explores how the social, political, and intellectual efforts by churchmen to make the Catholic Church the single religious authority in medieval Europe simultaneously defined many people as heterodox, or heretics. We will examine a variety of heretical groups and the ways that they were suppressed and orthodoxy was enforced.

COURSE FORMAT/STYLE: Seminar

HIST 48200-01 History & Global Environmental Change HU LA

3 CREDITS

INSTRUCTOR

ENROLLMENT: 10

PREREQUISITE: Senior standing; instructor's permission

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Designed to develop a scholarly understanding of some of the issues and problems historians are studying in the field of global environmental history. How has the environment affected the social, political, and economic development of different regions of the world and vice versa? Although it is impossible to cover thoroughly the diverse range of human-environmental interactions throughout the world, you will have the opportunity to survey broadly these interactions on six continents. Mostly we will confine ourselves in time to the period from 1800 to the present, although occasionally we will cast our historical net further into the past. Students will also conduct original research into some topic in global environmental history since 1800 and write a substantial scholarly paper (20-25 pp.) based on this research.

COURSE FORMAT/STYLE: Seminar

COURSE REQUIREMENTS & GRADING: Short response papers, book review, research paper; active participation in the discussions.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Many of our great historical texts involve travel in some way. From Herodotus to al-Biruni to Richard Burton, the traveler’s gaze has opened new worlds, introduced new peoples, and structured the way we view large parts of the globe. Travel literature remains an important method for accessing the past and present of other cultures. This seminar will explore the role of travel and travel writing in history. We will read classic traveler’s accounts, modern travel narratives, and contemporary tourist guides to examine how travel and tourism both create and become implicated in the historical and cultural representations of societies around the world.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: “Civilization and Barbarism” examines the evolution of ideas about what constitutes “civilized” and “barbaric” in the Americas, from the time of the Aztec Empire through the military dictatorships of the 1970s. Course readings will help us to understand how these terms are defined and how a range of social groups use these terms to achieve certain political and social goals. Primary source readings will include Domingo Sarmiento, Civilization and Barbarism, Jean de Lery, History of a Voyage to the land of Brazil, and Euclides da Cunha, Rebellion in the Backlands. Recently scholarly works that we will read include Matt Wray, Not Quite White: White Trash and the Boundaries of Whiteness and Horacio Verbitsky, The Flight: Confessions of an Argentine Dirty Warrior.

COURSE FORMAT/STYLE: discussion, student presentations, research paper, film viewings in and outside of class.

HIST 49500-01 Internship: History NLA
1-6 CREDITS
INSTRUCTOR: Michael Trotti, Muller 412, Ext. 4-1591
ENROLLMENT: 5
PREREQUISITES: Four history courses; junior standing or above; permission of instructor and chair. Available for variable credit; only 6 credits may be counted toward the history major.
COURSE DESCRIPTION: An opportunity for practical experience in a variety of history-related activities in the United States, under the joint supervision of the sponsoring agency and a history department faculty member. Internships are arranged individually and must be approved by the chair of the history department.

HIST 49900-01 Independent Study: History LA
1-3 CREDITS

INSTRUCTOR: Michael Trotti, Muller 412, Ext. 4-1591
ENROLLMENT: 1

PREREQUISITES: Senior standing, or equivalent.
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Special research on an individual project arranged by a student with a particular faculty member. The project may include reading books and/or writing papers under the guidance of the faculty member, with a performance expectation of senior-level work. Offered on demand only.